Penn closes more doors than it opens

Penn’s social conditioning into a handful of majors and careers is no secret, and it’s definitely not an unpopular topic to write about. First years arrive on campus and the niche major they applied with, the one they’re actually passionate about, slowly devolves into something more conventional. By the end of New Student Orientation, there are too many pre-meds and philosophy, politics, and economics majors to count.

However, seldom do we hear about those who don’t fall victim to the few set of career paths deemed worth pursuing by Penn’s culture. In reality, the problem isn’t just how so many students choose to pursue the same few majors and careers, but how it has come to affect those who don’t. They’re facing a battle arguably harder than giving up your passion: having to fight to pursue it.

Alyma Karbownik, a staffer for The Daily Pennsylvanian and College sophomore double majoring in international relations and environmental studies, feels as though her field of study lacks the resources and attention it deserves. For her environmental studies major, she says it is “hard finding upper level classes in general, but also hard finding ones you’re genuinely interested in.” 

In fact, she explains how she often has to take classes outside of the environmental studies department to fulfill her major requirements. Advisors have even suggested she take classes without the correct course attribute to later be petitioned to count towards her major.

But lacking a diverse set of classes has implications worse than having to sit through a few boring seminars. When you have to choose classes in other departments to fulfill upper level requirements, you sacrifice depth in your knowledge of the subject you’re actually trying to pursue. Classes don’t build on each other, and you end up with a curriculum full of niche topic classes that might not even interest you in the first place. Being surrounded by peers whose academic curiosities are satisfied by cohesive and ample coursework, it forces you to question: Why wouldn’t you just switch your major?

Penn’s funneling problem exists within popular majors, as well; it just presents itself differently. Students set on a career outside of Penn’s presets aren’t awarded the opportunities their more traditional peers are. When speaking with Cameron Kim, a College sophomore studying biology on the pre-vet track, I observed a stark contrast between the pre-vet and pre-med experience. She talked about finding it difficult to get involved in animal-related research or clinical work at Penn, explaining that “anything having to do with animal science is usually using them as models for human medicine.” In contrast, pre-med students have a myriad of opportunities to take advantage of: research, clinical work, and even pathways with admission to the Perelman School of Medicine. Take a look at the pages for pre-vet and pre-med on Penn Career Services; the difference speaks for itself.

Nobody’s expecting Penn to be NYU Gallatin, but the lack of support for paths that are actually quite popular outside of Penn is a bit ridiculous. It doesn’t make sense looking at Penn’s reputation from the outside in, either. Penn Vet is ranked sixth best in the nation, but it doesn’t seem like they want undergrads involved. Penn is a top-pick for pre-law and boasts environmental initiatives with Penn Sustainability, but environmental policy courses are few and far between. Although two examples are certainly not representative, it doesn’t appear that Penn is lacking the means to provide undergraduates with career and academic opportunities in a more comprehensive set of fields.

I understand it makes sense to offer more classes and provide more resources for subjects commonly chosen by students. But when Penn establishes itself as a place of endless opportunity, educational excellence, and as the seventh best university in the nation, students come here expecting the chance to pursue what they’d like. When choosing a college, you’d think that by coming to Penn, you’re only expanding your career and learning opportunities. But that’s clearly not the case. In reality, you might be giving up more opportunities than you gain by coming here. 

Penn loves to boast its interdisciplinary academics. Yet, besides some easy-A gen-eds and one-off special topics classes, that idea goes out the window. Unconventionality is discouraged and, one way or another, we all end up in the same few majors, pursuing the same few careers, and fighting tooth-and-nail for the same few opportunities. All things considered, maybe you should have just gone to a state school.

VIKTOR WITTNER is an Engineering junior from Casa Grande, Ariz. studying computer science. His email is viktorw@seas.upenn.edu.